A One Mann’s Movies review of “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” (2025, 1.5*, 15).
“Do you want to go on a big, bold, beautiful journey”? Well, after seeing the trailer for this, the honest answer was “Yes, I did”. What’s not to love? An intriguing Narnia-esque plot; Two attractive looking and personable stars; Some heart-rending dying-mother stuff; Phoebe Waller-Bridge for comic relief.
Sadly, I was to be bitterly disappointed. Perhaps my rating reflects that and is overly harsh. But, whilst it has a few moments where it worked well, this is a film that overall frustrated and annoyed me.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
David (Colin Farrell) and Sarah (Margot Robbie) are two screwed up middle-aged people who have progressed through life as islands. (They are “Bloody Ibiza”, in the words of Hugh Grant). Thrown together at a wedding, they singularly fail to hit it off. But the sat navs of the cars they hire from the same hire company have other ideas.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong language.”)
Talent:
Starring: Margot Robbie, Colin Farrell, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Kevin Kline. Jennifer Grant, Hamish Linklater, Lucy Thomas, Lily Rabe.
Directed by: Kogonada.
Written by: Seth Reiss.
Running Time: 1h 49m.
Summary:
Positives:
- This premise felt like it had so much going for it from the trailer.
- Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell are both beautiful people to look at.
Negatives:
- It’s all incredibly dull.
- The dialogue is full of cod-psychology and I didn’t care for what happened to either of them.
- The story seems to be inconsistent with its principles.
Full Review of “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey”:
A door to another time… quelle surprise!
What would you say if you suddenly opened a door in the middle of the countryside and found a portal to another place and time? A mild “oh, wow”? I think not. It is just one of the ridiculous elements of this fantasy drama that didn’t work for me. Neither David nor Sarah, after ending up in an old lighthouse museum, seemed to be the least bit surprised by the event. And, letting the door shut behind them, don’t seem concerned about how they are going to get back again (a process NEVER once explained…. in a street cafe scene, Sarah opens the door again and you see the busy street… not the place they came from!)
The view from the cosmic couch.
And so Sarah and David bounce from past event to past event, sharing observations about their lives and feelings as if this was some giant cosmic psychiatrist’s couch. It’s just so dull and tedious.
Then we end up at David’s old school with David pitched back into the teenage version of himself for a vibrant song-and-dance sequence. Well, this is all nicely “Peggy Sue Got Married” jollity I thought…. let’s stay here for a while. But no. We are pitched back again through a different door for some bedside sob-story with Sarah’s dead mother: Sarah should have been there when she died, but she was too busy bonking her professor for grades. All of this should have been moving and emotional but it managed – somehow – not to be.
By this time, Sarah’s character, in particular, was annoying me and I’d really given up caring what happened to the pair of them.
Keep it consistent guys!
The screenplay also felt like it had a lack of respect for its audience. Throughout the whole film, the premise – fantastical as it may be – was clearly laid out…. David and Sarah went through a door and inhabited a younger version of themselves. That is, until the last reel of the film when David inhabits not his own body, but his father’s (and then meets himself). Like, really? I don’t even understand what this sequence was meant to achieve.
This is all a real shame.
All of this I found really irritating since I was keen to like this film. I like both Robbie and Farrell. (Even if Robbie protests a bit too much at being aged at 40… she’s only 5 years off that… and it feels like Farrell, edging near his 50’s, is well-punching!) We also get some nice cameos from Phoebe-Waller Bridge and the great Kevin Kline, with their sections being quite amusing. And I liked the fact that the sat-navs in the cars had an obvious tribute to HAL in “2001: A Space Odyssey” with the red ‘camera’ lens.
But overall, for me, it never, ever got close to living up to the trailer.
Monkey?
There’s not a monkey per se, but over the end titles David and Sarah arise from the chairs, that we see them in in a painting, and waltz around the room.
Summary Thoughts:
A real disappointment. The film might have actually appealed to a younger teen audience, but that was precluded by a good deal of bad language (which actually felt quite unnecessary).
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7t9cPtA9St0.
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